Bag dispensing package

ABSTRACT

This bag dispensing package contains an assembly of slippery, plastic bags folded at their mid sections around a stiff panel that is substantially one-half of the height of the plastic bags. The folded end of the bag assembly extends from an opening at the front of the container of the package and across the center region of the folded part of the bag assembly, but there are strips or other retaining means at the front of the assembly on both sides of the open region. The center opening is correlated with the size and pliancy of the bag so that individual bags can be pulled easily from the bag assembly through the center opening.

United States Patent Canno 1 July 29, 1975 [5 BAG DISPENSING PACKAGE 3,62479l ll/l97l Taub 221/63 [75] Inventor: Leonard E. Canno, New York. N.Y. Primary Examiner stanley H. Tonberg [73] Assignee: Equitable Bag Co., Inc., Long island Attorney, Agent, or F irm-Sandoe, l-lopgood &

City, NY. Calimafde [22] Filed: Dec. 10, 1973 [57] ABSTRACT PP 423,570 This bag dispensing package contains an assembly of slippery, plastic bags folded at their mid sections [52] CL 221/63 around a stiff panel that is substantially one-half of the [51] Int CL 565 1/04 height of the plastic bags. The folded end of the bag [58] Field of Search 221/63; 206/526; 221/64, assembly extends from an opening at the front of the 221/65 container of the package and across the center region of the folded part of the bag assembly, but there are [56] References Cited strips or other retaining means at the front of the as- UNITED STATES PATENTS sembly on both sides of the open reg1on. The center opening 15 correlated with the size and pliancy of the g flg bag so that individual bags can be pulled easily from u cry 3,456,844 7/1969 Planner 221/63 the bag assembly through the Center $606,080 9/1971 Lynch et al 221/63 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures BAG DISPENSING PACKAGE BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The outstanding disadvantage of plastic bags has been the difficulty in handling them because of their slipperiness in the manufacturing plant where they are produced and in retail stores Where they are used. For example, the bags are generally placed on shelves with different sizes on shelves under a wrapping counter in a store. When a clerk reaches for a bag and pulls it from the shelf, it is important that she be able to pull one bag at a time of the size desired. With slippery plastic bags the pulling of one bag from an ununitized stack sometimes causes many or even the entire stack of bags to slide off the shelf and on to the floor. This is a great inconvenience in the retail store and causes high percentage of waste.

This invention provides a bag dispensing package from which plastic bags can be pulled, one at a time, and without any risk of having more than one bag move from the shelf when a top bag is pulled. The bag dispensing package of this invention is preferably a package in which the bags were assembled at the delivery end of the bag making machine in the factory. The bags are folded over a cardboard panel and are inserted, folded end first, into the open bottom of the gusseted tube or bag. The open end is then hand folded and sealed by tape or adhesive. This end folding provides a snug and tight package which increases the efficiency of the package.

Straps or sections of the bottom of the bag on both sides of the open front portion of the container hold the bag assembly in the container but permit individual bags to distort as necessary to pull through the open part of the frontoftl containe Ihe sizeof the opening for removal of bags depends on the width and stiffness of the bag, as will be more fully explained in connection with the preferred embodiment.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a bag dispensing package made in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing a modifled construction of the bag dispensing package;

FIG. 3 is a greatly enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the structure shown in FIG. 1 but illustrating the manner in which the plastic bag is removed from the dispensing package.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 shows a bag dispensing package having a top wall 12 and a bottom wall 14. This package may be constructed like a bag with gusset side walls 16. A back 18 is formed by tucking in and folding rearward portions of the walls over the ends of the bags to make a snug and tight package, as previously explained. The body of the dispenser is basically an open-ended gusseted tube (FIG. 1).

The dispensing package 10 includes a bag assembly 22 which is exposed at an opening 24 in the front of the package 10. The construction shownin FIG. 1 has the opening 24 constructed so that it exposes not only the forward end of the bag assembly 22, but also portions of the bag assembly which are rearward of the forward fold for a distance far enough to enable a person to grip the foremost bag by applying a thumb to the lower bottom side of the bag assembly 22 and one or more fingers to the top side of the bag assembly (or vice versa) so as to pull a bag 26 (FIG. 4) from the open end of the dispensing package 10.

In order to prevent the entire bag assembly 22 from moving forward when thus gripped to remove the outside bag, there are straps 30 which extend forward from the front edges of the top wall 12 and bottom wall 14. These straps 30 are preferably secured to the top and bottom walls 12 and 14, respectively, by adhesive.

The bag assembly 22 is formed by folding individual bags 24 around a stiff center panel 34, best shown in FIG. 3. This stiff center panel 34 amy be made of cardboard or thin laminated wood, or any other stiff material that is sufficiently inexpensive.

The bags 24 are folded so that the center portion of each bag is folded around the forward end of the panel 34. In the package, the top and bottom edges of the bags 24 may extend all the way to the back end of the panel 34 at the mid portion of the bag assembly 22, but the top and bottom of the edges of the bags 24 terminate some distance from the bottom 18 toward the top and bottom 12 and 14, respectively, because of the fact that the folds at the front end of the dispensing package are of increased radius and are also spaced further and further from the front edge of the panel 34 toward the front of the bag assembly.

The straps 30 assume the same carvature as the forward end of the bag assembly 22 and this contour is essentially semi-cylindrical.

Thus the front end of the dispensing package 10 has an opening 24 which does not extend across the full width of the package because of the straps 30. The width of the opening 24 is preferably substantially 60 to of the width of the filled container or package 10.

The most advantageous width for the opening 24 depends upon the size of the package and upon the width thickness, and stiffness of the bags packed. The reason for having the opening 24 of less width than the bag assembly 22 is to prevent more than one bag being pulled from the package at a time. If the bags are made of very thin material it is practical to have a narrower opening 24 than if the bags are made of somewhat heavier stiffer material and with consequently greater resistance to transverse bending when the outer bag 24 is pulled from the package as shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 1 shows the package 10 made of tubular material with a lap seam 36. The lower end portions of the top, bottom and side walls, which are folded to form the back 18, are indicated in broken lines in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 shows a modification of the construction shown in FIG. 1. Instead of having a container or package 10 with straps limiting the width of the opening, FIG. 2 shows a package from which a portion 40 is detached or cut out along lines 42 to form an opening 24'to or die cut out to form opening 24. The container or package 10' has a front wall 44 which can be made by folding the top, sides and bottom inward in the manner used to form the bottom of a pinched bottom bag or a self-opening style bag. Portions of the container or package which correspond to portions of the structure shown in FIG. 1 are indicated by the same reference characters with a prime appended.

The front wall 44 is not shaped to the generally semicylindrical front face of the bag assembly 22; but the surfaces 44 of FIG. 2 bulge and even if they did not, they would still contact with the fold of the bag assembly and prevent more than one bag from being dispensed from the container at a time.

The dispensing package 10 or 10 is particularly suitable for dispensing plastic bags 24 which are made of slippery material. More especially the packages are used for high density polyethylene bags made from polyethylene film having a thickness of approximately 1 to 1% mils. Such material is quite slippery and this makes it unsuitable for open stacks of bags on a shelf under a merchandising counter. Such bags can be pulled from the container, one at a time, by gripping the top and bottom surfaces of the bag assembly 22 at the opening 24 and then pulling the gripped bag from the bag assembly, as shown in FIG. 4. The outermost bag slips over the surface of the bag immediately below it and as the bag is pulled forward it forms generally longitudinal gathers and becomes narrower so that it pulls clear of the bag assembly 22 and outward through the opening 24.

FIG. 3 shows oneof the straps 30 in section with the strap secured to the top 12 and bottom 14 by adhesive 48.

The walls of the containers or packages 10 and 10' are preferably made of paper such as used for making bags. The actual weight of the paper is in accordance with the size and weight of contents of the package, as in ordinary paper packaging.

The preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described. Terms of orientation are, of course, relative. Other modifications of the invention can be made and some features can be used in different combinations within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A bag dispensing package including a stiff panel, a bag assembly comprising a plurality of bags folded around a front edge of the panel along their midregions, and folded only at their mid-regions, whereby the bags beyond said mid-regions are substantially parallel to one another, a container having top, bottom and side walls, and a rear wall surrounding the bag assembly on all sides of the respective sides thereof except the front of said bag assembly, the front of the container having a front wall open for an area that ex poses the folded end of the bag assembly across the center of the front of the assembly and for a part of the front of the assembly beyond the center thereof, and the front of the container being also open for a limited distance extending rearwardly from the exposed foremost end of the folded assembly far enough to permit an operator to grip the mid-region of the outside bag of the assembly adjacent to the back end of the foldof said assembly to pull the most forward bag of the assembly from the container as a single unit, the container having its front closed across a part of the bag assembly for a distance inward from the sides of the container, and characterized by the container being a paper bag of the self-opening type with side gussets and with the bottom of the-bag forming the back wall of the container, and with the edges of the mouth of the bag substantially equidistant from the back wall and constituting the rearward limits of the open front of the container, and straps secured to the front andback of the bag, which constitute thev top and bottom walls of the container, and adjacentthe front of the container and extending beyond the mouth of the bag to form abutments that hold the bag assembly in the container.

2. A bag dispensing package including a stiff panel, a bag assembly comprising a plurality of bags folded around a front edge of the panel along their midregions, and folded only at their mid-regions. whereby the bags beyond said mid-regions are substantially parallel to one another, a container having top, bottom and side walls and a rear wall surrounding the bag assembly on all sides of the respective sides thereof except the front of said bag assembly, the front of the container having a front wall open for an area that exposes folded end of the bag assembly across the center of the front of the assembly and for a part of the front of the assembly beyond the center thereof, and the front of the container being also open for a limited distance extending rearwardly from the exposed foremost end of the folded assembly far enough to permit an operator to grip the mid-region of the outside bag of the assembly adjacent to the back end of the fold of said assembly to pull the most forward bag of the assembly from the container as a single unit, the container having its front closed across a part of the bag assembly for a distance inward from the sides of the container, characterized by the container being a bag with gusset side walls that fold upon themselves as the number of bags in the bag assembly become less, straps connected to the top and bottom walls of the container near both ends thereof, said straps having flat portions adhered to the top and bottom walls for movement toward and from one another as the gussets fold, the straps folding back around degree arcs at their forward ends, the arcs changing in radius of curvature to compensate in the radius of the front fold of the bag assembly as the number of bags in the bag dispenser decreases.

3. A bag dispensing package including a stiff panel, a bag assembly comprising a plurality of bags folded around a front edge of the panel along their midregions, and folded only at their mid-regions, whereby the bags beyond said mid-regions are substantially parallel to one another, a container having top, bottom and side walls, and a rear wall surrounding the bag assembly on all sides of the respective sides thereof except the front of said bag assembly, the front of the container having a front wall open for an areathat exposes the folded end of the bag assembly across the center of the front of the assembly and for a part of the front of the assembly beyond the center thereof, and the front of the container being also openfor a limited distance extending rearwardly from the exposed foremost end of the folded assembly far enough to permit an operator to grip the mid-region of the outside bag of the assembly adjacent to the back end of the fold of said assembly to pull the most forward bag of the assembly from the container as a single unit, the container having its front closed across a part of the bag assembly for a distance inward from the sides of the container, characterized by the container comprising a gusseted bag having a folded bottom which is the front of the container and which has a cutaway portion at its center region extending rearward for a limited distance away portion for holding the [bag assembly in the coninto the top and bottom walls of the container, the portainer when a front bag is pulled out of the dispensing tions of the folded bottom of the bag that comprises the package through the open front thereof.

front of the container being on both ends of the cut- 

1. A bag dispensing package including a stiff panel, a bag assembly comprising a plurality of bags folded around a front edge of the panel along their mid-regions, and folded only at their mid-regions, whereby the bags beyond said mid-regions are substantially parallel to one another, a container having top, bottom and side walls, and a rear wall surrounding the bag assembly on all sides of the respective sides thereof except the front of said bag assembly, the front of the container having a front wall open for an area that exposes the folded end of the bag assembly across the center of the front of the assembly and for a part of the front of the assembly beyond the center thereof, and the front of the container being also open for a limited distance extending rearwardly from the exposed foremost end of the folded assembly far enough to permit an operator to grip the mid-region of the outside bag of the assembly adjacent to the back end of the fold of said assembly to pull the most forward bag of the assembly from the container as a single unit, the container having its front closed across a part of the bag assembly for a distance inward from the sides of the container, and characterized by the container being a paper bag of the selfopening type with side gussets and with the bottom of the bag forming the back wall of the container, and with the edges of the mouth of the bag substantially equidistant from the back wall and constituting the rearward limits of the open front of the container, and straps secured to the front and back of the bag, which constitute the top and bottom walls of the container, and adjacent the front of the container and extending beyond the mouth of the bag to form abutments that hold the bag assembly in the container.
 2. A bag dispensing package including a stiff panel, a bag assembly comprising a plurality of bags folded around a front edge of the panel along their mid-regions, and folded only at their mid-regions, whereby the bags beyond said mid-regions are substantially parallel to one another, a container having top, bottom and side walls and a rear wall surrounding the bag assembLy on all sides of the respective sides thereof except the front of said bag assembly, the front of the container having a front wall open for an area that exposes folded end of the bag assembly across the center of the front of the assembly and for a part of the front of the assembly beyond the center thereof, and the front of the container being also open for a limited distance extending rearwardly from the exposed foremost end of the folded assembly far enough to permit an operator to grip the mid-region of the outside bag of the assembly adjacent to the back end of the fold of said assembly to pull the most forward bag of the assembly from the container as a single unit, the container having its front closed across a part of the bag assembly for a distance inward from the sides of the container, characterized by the container being a bag with gusset side walls that fold upon themselves as the number of bags in the bag assembly become less, straps connected to the top and bottom walls of the container near both ends thereof, said straps having flat portions adhered to the top and bottom walls for movement toward and from one another as the gussets fold, the straps folding back around 180 degree arcs at their forward ends, the arcs changing in radius of curvature to compensate in the radius of the front fold of the bag assembly as the number of bags in the bag dispenser decreases.
 3. A bag dispensing package including a stiff panel, a bag assembly comprising a plurality of bags folded around a front edge of the panel along their mid-regions, and folded only at their mid-regions, whereby the bags beyond said mid-regions are substantially parallel to one another, a container having top, bottom and side walls, and a rear wall surrounding the bag assembly on all sides of the respective sides thereof except the front of said bag assembly, the front of the container having a front wall open for an area that exposes the folded end of the bag assembly across the center of the front of the assembly and for a part of the front of the assembly beyond the center thereof, and the front of the container being also open for a limited distance extending rearwardly from the exposed foremost end of the folded assembly far enough to permit an operator to grip the mid-region of the outside bag of the assembly adjacent to the back end of the fold of said assembly to pull the most forward bag of the assembly from the container as a single unit, the container having its front closed across a part of the bag assembly for a distance inward from the sides of the container, characterized by the container comprising a gusseted bag having a folded bottom which is the front of the container and which has a cutaway portion at its center region extending rearward for a limited distance into the top and bottom walls of the container, the portions of the folded bottom of the bag that comprises the front of the container being on both ends of the cutaway portion for holding the bag assembly in the container when a front bag is pulled out of the dispensing package through the open front thereof. 